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Posted March 1, 2014 11:17 pm - Updated March 1, 2014 11:24 pm

Gene Frenette: No doubting No. 1 Florida when it hits those 3s

GAINESVILLE | Consider this a warning to the rest of college basketball: When Florida is knocking down 3-point shots anywhere close to as consistently as it did Saturday against LSU, there’s no debate about that No. 1 ranking.

Whether it was returning home after a four-game road stretch in five games, or facing the SEC’s worst defense, or Dorian Finney-Smith feeling good about his shot again, the Gators looked as invincible against the Tigers as they had all season.

Nobody among Arizona, Wichita State, Virginia, Duke, or anybody you care to name is beating Florida when it performs like this. What LSU ran into before a sellout crowd of 12,589 at the O’Connell Center were the scary-good Gators, a team that went away for about a month.

Florida didn’t play around this time. The Gators (27-2, 16-0) refused to give hope to LSU like it had other SEC lightweights Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Auburn and Alabama in recent weeks.

UF dismantled the Tigers from the opening tip, cruising to a 79-61 win behind a season-high 13 field goals from beyond the arc. More importantly, the Gators heeded coach Billy Donovan’s message about playing like they were still “chasing something,” not like a team with an SEC championship on lockdown.

“Our guys are pretty grounded,” said Donovan. “I don’t feel like I’m dealing with guys that are disillusioned in any way.”

Donovan is big on staying in the moment. A senior-laden lineup took it to heart when he told them of his dissatisfaction with “so many wasted possessions” the last three games.

So UF reminded LSU why it’s riding a 21-game winning streak. Florida was so disruptive on the defensive end, the Tigers didn’t have more field goals than turnovers until the 15:56 mark of the second half.

“You can’t give a team wide open looks at home and that’s exactly what we did,” said O’Bryant, a junior. “We did a bad job defensively. They’re definitely one of the top-tier teams I’ve seen, going back to that No. 1 Kentucky team [in 2011-12] that won a national championship. They were loaded with big guys, young guys.”

Florida is loaded in a different way. It’s armed with maturity, chemistry and players who understand the true sense of team play. In other words, the Gators are the anti-Kentucky.

Only a road game against South Carolina and a Senior Day home finale against Kentucky stands between UF and the first 18-0 SEC season. The Gators are prepared to cut down the nets on Saturday if they make history.

With the perfectionist Donovan pushing this quest toward perfection, it seems almost a lock. Get the scissors ready.